The Addition
by Skye Summers
Summary: While Marco and the rest of the Animorphs are on a mission to protect an important man from becoming a Controller, they find something rather odd: a crippled girl with wings. Set between books 2 and 3 of Animorphs;  1 year prior to the Angel Experiment.
1. Chapter 1

My name is Marco.

You probably wouldn't look twice if I walked by you. I'm just your average Latino kid, with nothing obviously different about me. Maybe you wouldn't notice me at all – you'd be missing out on a lot, but hey, it's your loss. I doubt you'd even take the time to realize how cute I am. Seriously, everyone turns a blind eye to the short guy who happens to be able to turn into a five hundred pound gorilla at will.

Yeah, I can change into an animal. That's a neat trick I picked up from a furry blue alien named Elfangor, who crash-landed on Earth and was then eaten by an evil monster named Visser Three. It's kind of a long story.

I was just walking home from the mall with some friends, and we decided to take a shortcut through the abandoned construction site. Big mistake. Big, big, _big _mistake. A UFO came out of nowhere, and _boom_, hit the ground right in front of us. Then an alien came out and started talking to us _inside our heads_. That was Elfangor. He was an Andalite – basically a blue centaur that eats with its feet and has four eyes and a wicked blade on the end of its tail. He gave us the power to morph. All I have to do is touch an animal and concentrate a bit, and then I can change into it whenever I want. So long as I don't stay in morph for longer than two hours, it's pretty nifty. Except it isn't, because I have to use it in an insane war to kill Yeerks.

See, his people were – are – at war with the Yeerks, parasitic slugs that crawl into your ear and wrap their disgusting, slimy bodies around your brain. Then they have you. They control you. You become another pawn in their sick quest for galactic domination. They've enslaved entire species – the Gedds, the Taxxons, the Hork-Bajir – and now they're trying to do the same to humans. The only thing standing in their way is our group, the Animorphs. Five desperate thirteen-year-olds who can turn into puppies and butterflies are holding back a full-scale invasion of Earth.

Isn't it great?

Rachel sure seems to think so. She's the most gung-ho of all of us. Her catchphrases are 'Let's do it' and 'Let's kick some Yeerk butt'. On the outside, she's a perfect girl. Slim, blonde, tall, beautiful – she looks like a supermodel. Inside, she's an angry killer. I'm dealing with the inside right now.

(_Marco!_ You coming or what?) She sounded mad. _Sounded _might not be the best word for it, seeing as she's sending her thoughts into my brain, not my ears, but I could tell she was annoyed.

(Yes, Xena.) I would have rolled my eyes, but facial expression is tricky when you're an osprey. (It's just a meeting. It can wait a few minutes while I –)

(Stare at that girl over there? No, you're coming _now_. Move it, Marco.)

Silently, I glided ahead. She wasn't as cute as me anyway.

It wasn't long before we reached Cassie's barn. It's our meeting place, as well as a wildlife rehabilitation clinic. Cassie comes from a long line of treehuggers; her dad runs the clinic, and her mom works for the Gardens, a sort of zoo-slash-amusement park. In the old days, I'd have teased her about having a barn – seriously, who has a barn anymore? – but we needed somewhere safe to talk, and this was the best place we had.

Rachel and I soared through the barn door and perched in the rafters. We were the last to arrive; Cassie and Jake were sitting on bales of hay, and Tobias was next to us – in red-tailed hawk morph, as always.

(What took you two so long?) He asked.

(Marco saw a pretty girl,) Rachel said scornfully. (Kept going around in circles staring at her.)

Jake shook his head. "Marco, you do realize that sometimes talking works better than stalking?"

(What was I supposed to say? 'Hey, baby, I'm the bird of your dreams. Yes, I am a bird right now. Yes, I'm in your head. But don't worry about any of that, because I'm actually a human fighting a war against mind-controlling aliens that want to take over the planet. Wait, don't go!'?)

(Well, no. It would be dishonest not to tell her that you're a midget,) Rachel taunted.

"Guys," Cassie said, before I could think of something to call her that was wittier than Jolly Green Giant. "We're here to talk about Animorph stuff, remember? Did you two notice anything unusual?"

On our last mission, we'd infiltrated the Chapmans' home. Melissa Chapman used to be Rachel's friend, but her parents are Controllers now – they have Yeerks in their heads – and she's been pulling away from everyone. It was a stupid mission. Rachel could have been killed pretending to be Melissa's cat – complete waste of time. And we drew attention to the Chapmans, maybe putting them in danger. So Jake told Rachel and I to fly over and look at the house, to make sure everything was fine.

(No,) Rachel reported. (Both the parents were ignoring her like they always do. She seems to be herself. And we didn't see any Hork-Bajir break into the house or anything.)

"Good," Jake said, nodding. He's sort of the unofficial leader of us all, so we waited for him to say something, but he didn't seem to have anything else.

(What are we doing next?) Rachel wondered. (I think we should steal one of their spaceships and blow up the Yeerk pool.)

(Brilliant idea, Rachel,) I said. (Too bad that A: we don't know where they keep their ships, B: none of us know how to drive a car, let alone fly a spaceship, and C: the police just might notice a UFO blowing stuff up.)

(What do _you _think we should do, then?) Tobias asked. He was usually pretty laid-back, but now there was a bit of an edge to his voice. I think he likes Rachel – not that he'd ever admit it. She'd probably just laugh in his face. He used to be a dork, but now he's a _bird_. The odds aren't really in his favor.

(Get out of this stupid war while we still can.)

(Elfangor gave us this power for a reason,) Tobias snapped. (So we could fight the Yeerks. He trusted us with –)

"Guys, guys," Cassie soothed. It was amazing how she could say something completely meaningless and calm down an entire room.

"We need to plan," Jake said. "What's our next move?"

(Why have a next move? We've done enough. We're just kids. This isn't our job, Jake. We haven't played video games together in, like, a week. And we won't play them together ever again if one or both of us gets killed fighting something that is _not our problem_. The Andalites will come back. They'll take care of it.)

"It is our problem." Jake said quietly. I winced internally. I'd almost forgotten about Tom, Jake's older brother. He's a Controller. Jake's pretty messed up about it – I don't know who wouldn't be a bit shaken by the fact that their sibling's every move was dictated by an evil parasitic slug. Unfortunately, he was determined to free Tom. And that meant war on the Yeerks.

"Rachel's idea about the ship was interesting," Cassie suggested. "Maybe we could try finding out where they keep them. We'd be doing something useful, and we wouldn't run the risk of being killed."

Jake shrugged. He knew the idea was junk. "Anyone else have a better idea?" Silence.

(I'll keep an eye on some of the Yeerk pool entrances,) Tobias said. (See if anyone says anything about a secret hangar or something.) Right. The Yeerks got this far by being that stupid.

"Great," Jake said. "My parents are expecting me home soon," he continued after a few moments. "See you guys at school tomorrow."

Everyone started to disperse. Tobias and Rachel flew off without a word. Jake said goodbye to Cassie and walked off.

(Bye, Cassie,) I said. I rustled my wings, getting ready for takeoff.

"Wait, Marco," she called. "That girl – do you really like her? I could help, maybe–" Typical Cassie, concerned with anything and everything.

(I've never seen her before, and I doubt I'll see her again.) I made a gesture as close to shrugging as an osprey could.

"Oh. Well... how long have you been morphed?" She wondered. "After Tobias–"

(Like an hour and a half. Ish. I should probably demorph now." I shivered. What if I'd forgotten? This morphing stuff was new, and we didn't totally have the hang of it yet. Another reason we shouldn't be involved with all this. I flapped my wings, taking off, and soared into an empty stall. I'd just do it in the open, but sometimes your clothes don't come with the morph. Plus it looks really gross when your wings melt into your back and arms start shooting out.

I focused on myself, and the change began. I started growing. My tail receded, and my beak began to grow soft and flatten. The amazing raptor eyesight that came with the morph degraded into the dull, blurred world humans saw. My toes shifted, and the killer talons turned into harmless nails. I still had wings and feathers, but my arms had emerged from my chest with a nasty _shploot_ sound; they were the one part of my body lacking feathers. My wings shrank into nothingness, and I was a normal human, save the feathers. They didn't go away. For a few seconds I panicked – what if I was stuck as some sort of half-morphed freak for the rest of my life? – but then they faded away. Just call me Bird Boy.

Or Hawkman. He was a lot cooler.

Anyway, I got up, pushed open the door, and walked over to Cassie. "Guess it wasn't two hours."

"Yeah," she agreed. "But it could have been. We need to find some way to time this. We don't want... we don't want Tobias happening again."

"Right. I should probably walk home," I said. "Be kind of weird for the neighbors, seeing a bird fly through the window." She nodded, and turned to some sort of ugly giant rat in one of the cages, talking to it lovingly. As I said, a long line of treehuggers.

* * *

My house isn't the biggest. It's not in the nicest area, either. And it's a bit of a fixer-upper. Plus there are some minor infestations of rats and cockroaches. And bats.

Any of those sentences could have won me an "Understatement of the Year" award. I live in a falling down hole-in-the-wall in a dangerous slum.

But if my mother hadn't disappeared, I could probably have a mansion. See, my dad was a scientist. He's a brilliant guy; he could have discovered something revolutionary and made millions. But then my mom vanished while she was out sailing, and he fell apart. He quit his job and sat around the house feeling miserable. Eventually, he realized that not paying the bills turned off the lights, and he got a job as a janitor. Even though he's working, he's not the same as he was. Some days, it's like he isn't even there.

Anyway, just thought I should explain why a one-armed homeless girl was in my neighborhood and in my face.

"Hand it over," she growled. There were some bloodstains on her jeans; I guess she'd accidentally stabbed herself with the knife in her pocket when she leaned over or something Oh my God, she had a knife in her pocket. What sort of idiot carried around a knife in their pocket? Well, she was blonde.

"I don't have any money." I told her. "Swear. I'm broke." But, hey, I'm still cute.

"I meant the food. In the brown bag. Unless you're a total moron and you're carrying around an empty brown bag."

My cheeks flushed a bit. "I can't afford to go through a bunch of these. I was going to put my lunch in it tomorrow. Here, look, empty." I opened the bag to show her.

She sighed, and waved me on with her hand. Swallowing hard, I walked past her. My house wasn't too far now. Maybe I could avoid Louis. Drug dealers weren't the most fun people ever.

Apparently, today was my lucky day. Louis was nowhere to be seen, and I got into my house without any difficulty. "Dad, I'm home!" I called. I didn't expect a response, and I didn't get one. I went to my room and flopped down on the bed, frightening a rat underneath it. It scurried across the floor, looking for its hole in the wall. But I'd scared it to the wrong side of the bed; I was standing between it and its hole. I could kill it, if I really wanted to. Or maybe... Couldn't a rat be useful for spying on the Yeerks? I already had a flea morph, but a rat could see and hear a lot more. I could find out...

Too bad fighting the Yeerks _was not my job_.

I let the rat run into its hole, and started on my history essay. Because I was going to be a normal kid, with a normal life. And, as much as it might stink, history was part of a normal life.

**AN: Eww. I hated that conclusion, but I couldn't think of anything better. This is going to be a Maximum Ride crossover, but I won't go into detail about that until the story calls for it. =)**

**Please tell me if I'm ooc. I haven't read the books in a while, and I'm not sure I've got this 100% right. All reviews are appreciated. ^^**


	2. Chapter 2

_SLAM. _Ow.

I grinned nervously at the guys standing around me. They were enormous – I think the meaty one pinning me against the locker was a solid six foot four, and probably two hundred fifty pounds. His name was Jimmy Jones, and he was the offensive tackle for the school football team. Unfortunately, he was also the guy I'd just compared to a Neanderthal.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way," I tried. "You know, the brain capacity of a caveman was, like, twice as much as a modern human. Plus they were way strong from hunting mammoths and stuff. So, actually, it's sort of a compliment –"

"Dude," the quarterback said. I waited for him to continue, but I guess that was it.

Jimmy glared at me. "Look, I'm not no Neanderthal. Obviously, you got no idea about biology, 'cause people used to be real short. I'm sure as hell not the dinky midget here, okay?" Okay, that was low. No pun intended.

"Yeah, I guess I'm the caveman. Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Where was Jake when you needed him?

"Caveman? Neanderthals didn't live in no caves, man. The textbook says they were, like, nomads. They didn't have no cave houses or nothing. I might have to kill you for being so stupid." I guess the Yeerks have to get in line. Fighting razor-covered T. Rexes was looking more appealing by the minute.

"Right, right. I stink at science. Or history. Or whatever. I'm a really dumb dwarf. So all I've got is my looks. Please spare my face, okay?" Maybe a really lame attempt at humor would work. Turning into a gorilla would work better, but probably wasn't advisable, given that the Yeerks had this thing where they were dead-set on killing the 'Andalite bandits'.

Jimmy rolled his eyes. "Whatever, man. Just don't go calling me a Neanderthal again. You're lucky I'm in a good mood today." He released me, turned, and walked off with most of his posse. I breathed in relief. I sure wasn't making fun of him again – at least not to his face.

One of the tight ends seemed to think I'd gotten off easy, as did a runningback. At least that's what I assumed, since they were moving towards me and had some seriously scary looks on their faces. I cast a desperate look around the locker room, and got lucky: Jake had just come in.

"Hey," I said to the football players. "Anything you want in particular? See, the way you're in my personal bubble is making me uncomfortable. And I know I'm adorable and all, but you're not my type, so I'd really appreciate it if you backed off a few steps."

It took them a few seconds to respond. "Are you calling us gay?" One asked, after a few seconds.

"No," I told them, completely sincere. "That would be incredibly offensive to gay people."

The runningback made a weird growling noise, and both football players took a few steps closer. Jake shot me a death glare, but still stepped between me and the angry people who wanted to kill me.

He looked up at the athletes, who had at least a hundred pounds on him, and spoke in a calm voice. "I'd appreciate it if you'd back off."

"You got a death wish?" The tight end loomed over him.

"Back off," he said quietly. There was something in his voice that lent him a weird kind of authority. He could tell you the sky was green and still be the voice of reason.

After a few seconds of tense silence, one of them sighed. "Whatever, man. But he better not disrespect any of us again, got it?"

"I'm sure he can behave," Jake smiled tightly.

The two of them glared at me for a moment, then grabbed their bags and left.

"Why, Marco?" He asked, throwing his hands in the air. "What was the point?"

"Why not? It was... entertaining. Seemed fun. Until they tried to kill me."

"Nice, Marco," he snapped. What was he talking about? "Bring that up whenever you can. It'll totally change my mind about it. I'll stop fighting. If you keep saying that we could die, Tom just – Tom just won't matter anymore. Real nice, after I just saved your butt." Oh.

"I wasn't talking about that, Jake."

He bit his lip. "Sorry. I just..."

"It's fine," I mumbled. I hated how on edge he'd become since Elfangor gave us our abilities. "So, we've got French next. Is it too late for me to copy your homework?"

He rolled his eyes. "Why can you never do your own?"

"Busy honing my video game skills. That's why I always kick your butt when we play."

"_Ta gueule!_" I assumed that was French for something rude. He punched me in the arm, and we walked to class like normal kids. Kids who weren't involved in alien warfare. It was nice.

* * *

I couldn't concentrate during French. I was so distracted – not from the class, which wouldn't have been anything unusual, but from my music. It was hard to listen to MC Hammer when a voice in your head was yelling at you.

At first I looked around, figuring that Jake was messing with my head. But his lips weren't moving – and he wasn't taking notes, so I guessed he was distracted too. Was someone else mumbling? It seemed like we were the only ones bothered.

My stomach felt like it was made of lead. Was this a side effect of the morphing? Hearing voices in my head? I didn't think it was thought-speak; none of us human Animorphs were in morph, and Tobias was supposed to be watching the entrance to the Yeerk pool. Plus thought-speak never sounded this quiet. I couldn't even understand what whoever was speaking was saying.

It seemed like class went on forever, but the bell finally rang. I grabbed my books – I'm not sure why I brought them to class, considering that they'd sat unopened on my desk the entire time – and moved over to Jake as quickly as I could.

"Please say you hear it too," I whispered as we walked down the hall towards the cafeteria.

He nodded, a bit uneasily. "We should probably ask Cassie and Rachel at lunch."

I looked at him, mock-horror plain on my face. "You mean sit at the girls' table? Manly, athletic Jake, eat with girls? So, next up we have cats giving birth to litters of snakes, and then the plagues and the riders of the Apocalypse, right?"

"Come on. It's not earth-shaking or anything. I eat with you every day, after all."

"But I'm, like, the definition of manliness. Unless you're willing to admit that a _girl _beats you at Doom every time. That would just be sad."

"What's sad is how you have nothing other than video games to brag about."

"Hey, I've got more than that. Just look at me. I'm obviously the cute one."

"Funny how all the 'cute' guys are five feet tall." He smirked as we entered the cafeteria.

(...you...me now?...girls...ear me...geom...fly...imp...) Someone sent the thought into my head. I looked at Jake.

"You hear that?" I asked him, relieved. I could tell that the buzzing had been thought-speak, just oddly muted. The voice seemed a lot clearer now, but I still couldn't make it out.

"Yeah," he said. "Sounds like Tobias. Or feels like him. Or... whatever. I see the girls over there." He pointed at Cassie and Rachel.

Rachel stared as we set our books down. "Seriously?" She asked.

Cassie smiled warmly, but she seemed a bit tense. "Jake. Marco. Hey. Did you..." She trailed off.

"Yeah," Jake said in a whisper. "Can't really hear it, though. Just a faint sort of buzz. Is it thought-speak?"

Cassie nodded. "We could hear him in geometry, but we lost him when we walked into the cafeteria. I think it's like a walkie-talkie; there's a limited range. He saw us leaving the math room, and he said he'd fly towards the cafeteria. He should be here pretty soon."

I exhaled. We'd be fine. We weren't hearing voices that didn't exist. We weren't crazy. We were totally normal shapeshifting freaks endowed with special powers by an alien.

(Hey, guys.) Tobias was coming through crystal-clear now. (Jake, scratch your head if you can hear me.) In response to Jake's somewhat confused look, he continued: (I can see you guys through the window. Great eyes, remember? And judging by the look on your face, you hear me. I kind of have something important to say.)

I opened my mouth, but then remembered that the bird in my head was outside and probably couldn't read lips.

(Just thought I'd let you all that the Yeerks plan on infesting one of our state senators.)

Apparently, Rachel and Cassie had heard this already, since they acted like it was bad, but nothing unexpected – you'd think that Macy's was out of their favorite lip gloss flavor. Or the secondhand shop was out of patched overalls. Jake and I, on the other hand, sat in stunned silence. The invasion was this far along? Who was next? The mayor? The governor? The president? The pope? God forbid, Bono?

(Yeahhh,) Tobias drawled. (Let's meet in Cassie's barn after school. We need to talk.)

Despite the fact that the senator was at risk of becoming a Controller, classes went on. It was a weird feeling, sitting through Mr. Caspar's lecture on conditions at Valley Forge. After hearing the news, US History seemed a bit anticlimactic.

English wasn't going any better so far. It's not like I usually pay attention, but I was too distracted to remember to hide my GameBoy as I played Mario & Wario. Well, it wasn't exactly _my _GameBoy; it was Jake's. Same thing, really. Unfortunately, the teacher confiscated it "until June, or whenever it is that you finally learn to pay attention, young man!" That stank for Jake, seeing as it was October. But whatever.

After about a billion years, the bell rang. "Remember to..." The teacher said something that no one could hear. Everyone was fighting to get out the door, and the ensuing scuffle was ridiculously loud. Ms. Hoskins looked disapproving, but, I mean, it was Friday. She knew not to expect anything different.

I followed Cassie and Rachel out the door while Jake begged Hoskins to give his GameBoy back.

"We're not waiting for him?" I asked.

"We don't want to seem too friendly," Cassie explained. "We never hung out before the... incident, so it'd seem kind of suspicious."

"See how it messes up _everything_?" I said, annoyed.

Rachel shot her best I-will-kill-you-in-your-sleep look my way. "Right. Your life was just _perfect_ before. And it's not like saving the senator from becoming a – ow!"

Judging by her scowl, she'd just gotten a good kick in the shin from Cassie. "Sorry," Cassie whispered. "But we can't say that out loud, Rachel. Not in public." Rachel didn't apologize, but she nodded.

"Hey!" Jake called, jogging up to us. Cassie gave a little wave; he smiled, and then turned to me with a somewhat different expression. "Hoskins says she'll give it back to me as a Christmas present. You realize Christmas is _two months _away, right? _Two months _without Metroid and... You owe me, Marco. You owe me big time." He shook his head.

"Metroid... that's the Chinese one with the... the Pikachu, right?" Cassie wasn't quite as well-versed as me and Jake when it came to video games, but she'd overheard plenty of our arguments. Unfortunately, she seemed to remember all the wrong bits.

"No, that's Pokémon," I said. "It's Japanese. Mark – you know Mark, the geeky redhead in seventh grade? – he special-ordered it. The story's in Japanese, but the gameplay is brilliant. I'm telling you, when they ship it over to America, it'll be _huge_."

Jake rolled his eyes. "Yeah, everyone will want to play with a blushing yellow rat that shocks people. I'm thinking it'll sell, like, two units. It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen."

"_Ever_? What about Marco?" Rachel asked.

I faked a wounded expression. "Really, Jake? You don't care enough to even insult me anymore? You're replacing me with a Japanese video game? Man, that hurts."

He snorted. "Don't worry. I've got plenty of time to call you an obsessive little shrimp." I was trying to think of a witty retort when we all stopped walking. We'd reached the hallway with Jake and Cassie's lockers.

"So, the barn ASAP?" Cassie asked. It wasn't really asking; it was more of a reminder. But she was too polite to come within a hundred miles of giving an order.

"Yeah," we all agreed. Jake and Cassie split off from the rest of us, heading towards their lockers. Rachel and I were left alone.

There were a few seconds of silence, but then Rachel spoke. "Why do you hate it so much?" She asked me.

I was confused. "Pokémon? I think it's great. Jake's the one who..." I stopped, realizing that she was staring. "Right. You weren't talking about that. You were talking about the w... works of Gloria Estefan," I hastily corrected myself.

"Yeah, Gloria. Whatever. What's so bad about her?" She asked impatiently.

"She's going to kill us all, Rachel. If we fight her, Gloria Estefan will burn off our limbs with ray guns, or, if she doesn't get us then, hunt us down and have aliens stab us in our sleep. She'll isolate us from our family and friends. We're not old enough for her, Rachel. She's evil. Evil, evil, evil. And getting rid of her is not our problem. I'm not going to sign up to be brutally murdered by Gloria Freaking Estefan, okay?" I snapped. Unfortunately, some of the cheerleaders seemed to have heard me, seeing as they were making some very odd faces as they scurried to the other side of the hallway.

"She's necessary, Marco," Rachel shrugged. "So long Gloria is... making music... on _our _planet, she's _our _problem. If she was doing her thing on Krypton, then yeah, let's call up Superman. But the way things are? We need to be in the Estefan."

"That'll last all of a month before she _rips us to shreds and leaves our corpses to rot on the floor. _Or maybe she'll just burn our bodies! 'Our' being used loosely here, seeing as we're, you know, pretty different around Gloria. Our parents would never know what had happened to us, Rachel."

She laughed. I don't mean in a bitter way, either. A _laugh_. She sounded _amused_. "We're not going to be killed, Marco. We're going to kick some serious Cuban butt."

A cute Cuban-American girl – Loretta, I think – walking by gave her a confused, somewhat hurt look. I'd been hoping to get her number sometime; this probably wouldn't help. "We're not talking about that sort of Cuban," I called. "Talking about cigars. Very bad for you."

I glowered at Rachel, but she just shrugged. "Gloria's not all bad, Marco. You just have to get over being a wimp." With that, she smiled and walked away.

I'm starting to worry about Rachel.

* * *

"Dad, I'm going to go hang out with Jake." I didn't say where. I didn't say for how long.

He didn't ask. "That's nice," he mumbled. I wasn't sure he'd even heard what I was saying. "Watch out for Louis."

"I won't get in trouble with Louis," I promised. Louis hadn't been around for a while, come to think of it. Out with Louis, in with Reggie, the one-armed girl, and Boris. Reggie had killed Louis, I figured. They were longtime rivals; it was just a matter of time. Reggie was a rival dealer, and no one you'd want to mess with. Boris was some friendly, crazy old African guy who thought he was Russian, and the one-armed girl was some crazy blonde idiot who carried around a knife in her pocket. They were probably irrelevant, but you had to keep an eye on things.

It took forever to get to Cassie's barn on foot, and I didn't live in a place where you could ask a friendly neighborhood soccer mom to please give you a ride. So I made my way into the neglected clump of trees that stood an eighth of a mile from the entrance to my neighborhood and started to change.

It was always a weird feeling when your face melted, then hardened into a weapon made for dismantling rodents. The feathers itched when they shot out from your skin, and the grinding of your bones as your arms became wings was jarring. But the weirdest part would always be the shrinking. I've never thought of myself as tall, but I still wasn't used to the dirt being right next to my face. Usually Jake stopped the bullies before I had a chance to experience that.

Even if I was tiny, it didn't matter. An osprey could soar higher than Shaq's head if it wanted to. If _I _wanted to. I was the osprey. A bird. And I was on the ground. Vulnerable. What if a cat – a dog – a bigger bird – no, no. I needed to fly. Fly, fly, fly, fly! Be the boss! Rule the skies! Fly, fly, fly! My wings started to beat, and, after a slight struggle, I found myself in the air.

I could see everything. Perfect sight. Perfect for finding. For killing. Hunger. The hawk felt hunger. It would eat. A yummy mouse, maybe a rabbit –

I returned to being myself, mentally gagging. Sometimes the morph took over. Sometimes the animal instincts became _your _instincts. It could happen to anyone, but it seemed to get much, much better with practice. Not, of course, that I'd be practicing much longer.

Just this one mission. I'd stop the Yeerks from getting at the senator. Then I was done. Jake and the others would have to be suicidal idiots by themselves.

**AN: So, I made the chapter longer. It seemed too short, but hopefully it's good enough now. =)**

**I'm going to try and write at least one more chapter over the weekend. I might get two, if I'm in a writing mood. ^^**

**I always appreciate reviews, so please don't hesitate.**

**I feel like I should reply to a few questions my one dedicated reviewer (thank you so much =D) asked in her reviews. ^^**

_Hah-of course Max would..._

It's actually not Max. :) But I can see her doing that too. XD

_I have to ask, do you come up with these witty jokes, or do you steal them from the book? xD._

I get the vague idea from the books – I get that Jake and Marco tease each other about video games, that Marco's short, etc. – but I don't flip through a book and copy out the jokes and/or paraphrase them. I just try to make up things that I think sound like them. I'm glad you think I'm witty. =D

_"Ta Gueule!" Moments like these are ones when I wish I took a language other than Spanish ;P. Translation?_

I take Spanish too; I just Googled how to say "shut up" in French, haha. Apparently, it's literally "your mouth", but people use it as a rather rude way to say "shut up".

_Does the weird buzzing-noise-in-head-thingy have anything to do with Max?_

That was supposed to be Tobias trying to reach them with thought-speak, but being too far away for it to be anything but a faint, indiscernible sound in their heads. I don't think I made that terribly clear, so I tried to revise that a bit in this update. =)

_*Insert the many flattering comments here.*_

Aw, thanks so, so much. ^^

You gave me too many compliments for me to reply to them all in a reasonable amount of space, haha. =D You're incredibly nice. It's great to have someone who likes my writing so much.

**Thanks for reading. :3**


	3. Chapter 3

I flew over Mickey D's on my way to Cassie's. I used to get dinner there; you could grab two burgers and a shake for, like, three bucks. But since the war, since we found out that the employee's restroom was a secret entrance to the Yeerk pool, I haven't been able to enjoy my Big Macs like I used to.

Most people would consider that a pointless detail, but the hawk was hungry, and I couldn't get my mind off food. It was think about McDonald's or think about voles and shrews. Oh, man, there was a really fat rat down there. It looked so juicy...

Oh, ew.

There was a pretty long stretch of farmland between the suburban shopping centers and Cassie's house. Rodents of all varieties were scurrying through the grass; I was really starting to wish that I'd eaten while I was a human. Anyway, I would have enjoyed the pretty sight if I wasn't fighting the urge to sink my beak into a rabbit.

I saw the barn long before I reached it. Ospreys have insanely powerful, telescopic vision. I could tell what color Cassie's weak human eyes were before she could see me as even a speck in the distance. Rachel and Tobias were in morph, perched on the rafters.

(Marco. About time.) Rachel's voice echoed in my head. I wasn't sure I'd ever get used to telepathic bald eagles.

(Hey, I beat Jake.) I defended myself as I soared through the open doors. I settled on top of an empty cage.

"Not really," Jake said, pushing open the door of the stall he'd apparently been demorphing in. "I got here five minutes ago."

(Doesn't really matter, does it? I kind of want to tell everyone about the senator.) Tobias was being unusually assertive.

(Yeah, about that.) I said. (How'd you find that out? I mean, the Yeerks don't just hand that information out, do they?)

(No, but they do send 'secure' e-mails on their Palm Pilots. Which I can read if I'm sitting on a tree a hundred yards away.)

"Wait. Since when do Palm Pilots send e-mails? That's, like, technology from a science fiction movie or something. And they just send out e-mails saying 'Hi, we're taking over the world, and this guy is who we're going after next'?" Jake raised one eybrow.

(Since the Yeerks used their technology to make Palm Pilots send e-mails, I guess. It seems safe enough to me; I doubt their security is anything a human could break through. I don't know, Jake. I read a message from 'Sub-Visser 908' to 'Sub-Visser 21' saying that Visser Three had given them the go-ahead to infest Senator Sam Johnson. Apparently, it's happening the thirtieth of October, 9 pm, when the guy plans to take a camping-slash-hiking trip.)

(Sounds like a trap to me,) I said. (They just _happened _to send the e-mail that would let us stop them while you were watching? And the mission just _happens _to be in the middle of the woods somewhere, where no one could see or hear anything? I don't like it.)

(_Bok-bok-bokkkk_,) Rachel taunted.

"Rachel," Cassie admonished, exasperated. "I have to agree with Marco a bit. It does seem like a pretty lucky coincidence. But can we really take the risk of letting them infest a senator?"

(I vote we do it.) If she could move her beak, Rachel would be grinning right now.

(I vote we don't.) Like they expected anything different from me.

(I vote yes.) So Tobias had a death wish, too. Or maybe he just wanted to agree with Rachel.

"I... I guess I'm in," Cassie said hesitantly.

Everyone looked at Jake. "Three votes 'yes'. I guess we're going." He sighed. "Tobias, do you know where he'll be hiking?"

(He's going to be on the... shoot. The... I think they said the Hayes Trail, in Clemence National Park? No... maybe it was the McAllister Trail... or... I... I don't know. It sounded all old-timey.) Tobias' thought-speak was tinged with embarrassment.

"I've got a map of Clemence," Cassie volunteered. "I used to go on camping trips with my parents all the time. Wait here; I'll go get it."

With my incredible vision, I couldn't help noticing how Jake's eyes followed Cassie as she headed for her house. Why was it that every Animorph but me was involved in some stupid romance that neither person was brave enough to articulate? And why were they so wimpy when it came to crushes, but totally gung-ho when it came to war? It didn't make sense. Then again, most politicians made no sense, but they were still rich.

There was an awkward silence while we waited for Cassie to come back. We weren't in the mood to talk about normal things, and we couldn't really discuss Animorph business without Cassie.

She returned soon enough, map in her hand. "I've got it," she announced.

(No, really?) I asked grumpily. I wasn't thrilled about walking into what obviously had to be a trap.

"Jeez, Marco." Jake looked at me in irritation. Turning back to Cassie, he asked, "So, are any of the trails Tobias mentioned on there?"

"No. But there are some 'old-timey'-sounding names, I guess. Rutherford? Sanders? Jacobson? Davis?"

(Davis!) Tobias exclaimed. (That's it. Where's that?)

"Right here," Cassie indicated a line on the map. She bit her lip. "You know, I think Marco might be right. It's a pretty rough trail; only experienced campers are supposed to go. It's about fifty miles long. And some sections have avalanche risks, plus there are wolves and bears all over the place... I don't see why the senator would be hiking here."

(He's kind of a mountain guy,) Tobias volunteered. (He used it in his campaign. He said 'a real man knows what real people want', or something like that. A bunch of the commercials he ran had him rock climbing. Kind of surprised he won, actually.)

(Coincidence after coincidence. I'm just not buying this. He's probably a Controller already.)

(Shut up, Marco.) Rachel said.

Jake sighed. "Cassie, you said there were a bunch of wolves and bears on the trail, right? How about we all morph bears? They're bigger, probably more useful in a fight."

"Yes, but bears don't travel in groups. We should probably go with the wolves. We actually have two right now." She pointed at the pair in the cages below me. They seemed kind of scrawny, but malnutrition didn't have anything to do with their DNA, so we'd probably end up a bit bigger. "We should probably all acquire them now." With that, she reached into the cage and touched one of them. She closed her eyes, and the wolf relaxed as she absorbed its DNA.

Rachel and I flew into stalls and started to demorph. The first things to change were my legs and feet. The talons receded, the yellow scales softened into pink flesh, and the limbs grew to their normal size. I looked ridiculous; I was basically a bird with enormous human legs attached. My tail receded, along with my feathers and beak. With a sickening grinding noise, my wings shifted, bent, and grew to become my arms. My head swelled, so much that my bird neck was having a hard time supporting it; I fell over when I tried to lie down, thanks to my awkwardly sized legs and arms. Everything returned to its typical blurriness as my eyes changed from piercing gold to brown. Finally, my body caught up with my limbs and head, and I was human again.

I shook my head, clearing it, and pushed open the stall door. I was in biking shorts and a tight sleeveless shirt. It was a pretty dorky ensemble for someone who wasn't in a triathlon, but we couldn't keep anything that wasn't skintight when we morphed. Trust me, we'd learned that the hard way.

I walked over to where Jake and Cassie were watching as Rachel acquired one of the wolves. Apparently, she was a faster morpher than me. I moved to acquire the other wolf, but Cassie stopped me.

"You, um, need to acquire the other one, Marco."

"Why? What's the difference?"

"Well... they're different genders."

"Oh. Yeah, I want the guy wolf." At this, she looked uncomfortable.

"Actually... male wolves can be a bit territorial, so it would be best if we just had one male. And, well, Jake already acquired that one, so –"

"Oh, come on," I moaned. I _so _didn't want to be a girl.

Rachel rolled her eyes and gave me a half-hearted punch on the arm. "I was a guy cat. Remember Fluffer McKitty? I dealt with it. And you're a lot girlier than I am manly, so it should be easier, really." I blinked. Was she turning into Jake or something? This wasn't how she usually acted.

"Fine," I mumbled, reaching for the girl wolf. She growled as I placed my hand on her head, but her agitation ceased as soon as I closed my eyes and concentrated. Acquiring an animal put it into a sort of trance, for whatever reason, which is the reason Jake has a tiger morph _and _an uneaten head. After a few seconds, I withdrew my hand. I could turn into a wolf at will. Joy.

"How about we practice with these morphs?" Jake suggested. "We don't want the first time we deal with their instincts to be when we're trying to focus on the mission."

(We don't want to be going into unfamiliar territory, either. I'm thinking that we should run through the trail tonight.) Tobias suggested.

"Good idea," Jake agreed. I shot him an irritated look, but didn't say anything. "Cassie and Rachel can tell their parents that they're having a sleepover, and Marco and I will say that we're going to wait in line for the midnight release of a video game."

"Seriously?" Rachel asked. "You guys have the nerdiest reason ever."

"Bill Gates is a nerd. Even his money can't get him my looks, though."

Jake rolled his eyes. "Seriously, Marco? Your 'looks' can't get you his brain, either. They haven't even gotten you a girlfriend yet."

"I'm holding out for Angelina Jolie. Just five more years 'til I'm legal."

"Angelina? She's not even pretty," Rachel was apparently disgusted with my taste in women.

"You're kidding, right?" Jake was open-mouthed with horror. "I mean... Angelina, Rachel? How can you...?"

(Guys. Don't we have Animorph stuff to talk about? When and where we all meet, for example?) The bird had a point.

"Eight o'clock at the park entrance?" Jake suggested. Everyone nodded. "It's settled, then."

* * *

I landed on the branch of a beech tree that grew over the rangers' station by the entrance. I spotted a bald eagle sitting in a maple, and a red-tail perched on an oak.

(Hey, Rachel. Hey, Tobias.)

(It's not Tobias,) Rachel told me. (Just a bird.)

(Oh. Where are the others?)

(Cassie's flying around, seeing if she spots any known Controllers. Tobias is with her. I don't know about Jake.)

(So this time I really did beat him, huh?)

(Yeah, Marco. You did it. Good for you. Kind of surprised you showed, actually.)

(What do you mean? When have I skipped out on a mission?) I asked defensively. (I've tagged along on every one of these stupid things.)

(You're always whining about it, and I figured the whole girl wolf thing was going to be the last straw for you. After you had that whole 'Gloria Estefan' rant, I didn't think you were going to last much longer.) There was an odd mix of condescension and... sadness, maybe, in her voice. Did she love the war so much that having the odds raised just a little higher upset her?

(This is my last mission. Not _this _mission, this scout-the-area thing, but keeping the senator from getting infested. I have nightmares, Rachel. I dream about Hork-Bajir slicing off my arms, about people shooting at me. I still hear the hosts' screams, from that mission at the Yeerk Pool. I... I can't do this much longer, Rachel. I just want to be normal.) The ensuing silence gave me time to calm down. (Plus I'm sick of looking like a scantily clad jock in between morphs. I mean, biking shorts and a tank top? On a guy?)

(Whatever, Marco. Are you really going to pretend that you don't feel _any _sort of rush when you're fighting? The adrenaline, the action, it doesn't feel good at _all_?) She sounded almost desperate.

(I'm not pretending,) I said uncomfortably. (I don't see what should 'feel good' about ripping innocent people apart because they happen to have slugs in their brain, or having my flesh burned off by Dracon beams. Sorry.)

(Fine. Be a wuss.)

An osprey landed on top of the rangers' station; a red-tailed hawk followed closely after.

(Hey, guys.) I greeted them. (Everything clear?)

(We didn't see any Controllers for a good thirty miles. At the thirty mark, though, there's a little... sort of wavery spot. It's pretty faint, though. We wouldn't have seen it if we weren't looking, or if we didn't have raptor vision. We think it's a hologram or something hiding a Yeerk camp.) Tobias said.

(…. a …. camp?) Jake's voice was distant; I could see a falcon about an eighth of a mile away. Once Jake got closer, Tobias repeated what he'd just said about the hologram thing.

(Let's check it out in wolf form,) Jake said. (Keep a good distance away, though. We don't want to get shot at.)

(I thought that was why we were in this war. To get shot at. If we're lucky, maybe even killed.) This had seemed like a safe enough mission, but now it sounded as suicidal as our ill-fated attempt at invading the Yeerk pool.

(Just shut up, Marco,) Jake said wearily. (You don't want to come, you don't have to come. You don't care that they're taking over the world, that they have Tom, you don't have to care. Just please, please, shut up.)

I couldn't let him and Rachel and the others go die alone, could I? Someone had to be around to scream 'No!' when they asked whether attacking the Yeerk base then and there was a good idea. I didn't say anything, but the fact that I didn't fly away was probably a pretty good hint that I planned on coming.

(There's a good spot for us to morph about a mile into the Davis Trail,) Cassie suggested. (It's totally overgrown, and it's behind a big pile of rocks. Tobias can keep watch and tell us if anyone gets within a quarter mile or so.)

(Sure,) Tobias said.

(Sounds good to me,) Jake agreed.

(Let's do it!) I'll let you take a wild guess at who that came from.

Morphing into a wolf was actually not all that bad. They were roughly human size, so there was none of the disorientating shrinking that accompanied most of my morphs. But still, there were changes.

Because fate seems to have it in for me, the first things to appear were my ears and tail, making me look like a furry, or maybe a crappy anime character. Jake laughed, at least until his face bulged out into a muzzle and the snickers turned into barks. Fur appeared next, followed by fangs and a black nose; now I was a werewolf. Jake started barking again, not that he had much right to: he was kind of a wolf version of Mr. Tumnus, his lower body completely wolf while his top was mostly unchanged. A maw leapt out from my face, and oh, man, the things I could _smell!_ A rival pack had been here recently, and – wow, they were big! Thirteen wolves! My tail tucked itself between my legs – odd, they were wolfish now – in fear. Huge pack nearby! And they didn't like us! Bad, bad bad bad bad badbadbadbad!

(Marco, are you okay?) A voice. Gentle. Friendly. Words. In my head. Head. Wolf head... (Marco?)

There are wolves around me. Lots. All friends. Not the bad pack. Need to stay away from the bad pack. Less of us than the bad pack. Not good.

(Marco? Marco! Are you going to calm down and talk to us, or do I need to kick your sorry butt?) That voice was... Rachel? Rachel. Oh. Right.

(I'm good,) I said, embarrassed. (Just... just getting control over the morph. I heard you and Cassie, but does Jake have... Oh, man, Rachel, turn around!)

It was obviously a mistake to give Jake the male morph, judging by the way he was looking at Rachel. He took a step towards her, and I lunged at him, knocking him to the ground. He growled, trying to push me off, but I pinned him.

(You idiot! Jake! Jake! You in there? Jake, you moron, snap out of it!)

(Out of what? Huh?)

Rachel was making an odd snorting sound that was apparently the wolf equivalent to laughter. (Jake, you're an idiot.)

(Really, Jake?) I asked. (You don't remember?)

(Remember wh... Oh, _man_,) Jake moaned. (I am so, so, sorry, Rachel. I swear, I am so sorry. Beyond words sorry. Oh, man.)

(You will never live this down. Ever.)

(Oh, come on –)

(Dude. You fell in love with your cousin while you were both wolves. I repeat: you will never live this down. Ever.)

(Maybe we can just get on with the mission,) Cassie suggested hastily.

(Sounds great,) Jake chimed, trotting to the head of the group. (Let's go take a look at the Yeerk camp.)

Rachel and I laughed at him the full thirty miles.

* * *

Running through the woods as a wolf is insanely cool. You notice everything – the fact that a bear was here two weeks ago, a fox ran by an hour ago, that a chipmunk is sitting petrified on a rock right now hoping you won't eat it – it's incredible.

You can hear things humans can't. Like, for example, someone yelling, or Hork-Bajir talking in their harsh, grating language. Or both at the same time.

We made sure to stay a good hundred yards away, well out of the range of Dracon beams. Unfortunately, wolves couldn't see that well, so our grasp of the situation was limited. But it sure seemed like a girl was fighting a Hork-Bajir – and holding her own, somehow. Why weren't they firing Dracon beams, or even using their blades?

(Tobias? What's going on over there?) Jake asked.

(Two Hork-Bajir are getting their butts handed to them by some girl.)

(A human girl?)

(Apparently. Blonde, trying to kill them – like Rachel with one arm.)

(Ha ha,) Rachel said.

(One arm? Does she... have a knife in her pocket?)

(No, but she's using one. To great effect. Why?)

(Bloodstains on her jeans?)

(Yes... how did you know she was wearing jeans? Marco?)

(I think that's a homeless girl from my neighborhood.) I said. Okay, that sounded stupid.

(Oh my God!) Tobias exclaimed.

(What?) Cassie asked, alarmed.

(Marco, does this homeless girl you're talking about have wings? Because this one does.)


	4. Chapter 4

There was a long pause; I guess we were all shocked. Not sure why, though. I mean, we were used to dealing with blue scorpion-deer-people, razor-covered T. Rexes, and evil mind controlling slugs. What was so special about a girl with wings? Honestly, she was kind of boring in comparison.

(Are you sure, Tobias?) Jake asked.

(No,) he snapped, (I just said she could fly to see how you'd react. Of course I'm sure. There are two Hork-Bajir fighting one girl with wings. Can't you see them?)

(Nope. Wolves don't see all that well. But we can smell you all the way up there. You might want to take a bath,) I said.

(Really, Marco?)

(I say we go kick some Yeerk butt,) Rachel suggested. (The girl's on our side, if she's fighting the Hork-Bajir. So it's, like, four of us against two of them. Let's –)

(Right. Because this is _totally_ not a trap.) I interrupted her before she could say "do it". (It's not like she's a Controller who'll turn on us as soon as we show ourselves or a dozen more Yeerks are hiding in the bushes or anything.)

(So your suggestion is to sit here and watch the Yeerks kill her? Coward.)

(No, my suggestion is to run as fast as we can and hope they don't shoot us. I don't want to die, okay?)

(I doubt that girl wants to die, either,) Cassie reminded me gently.

Jake nodded. (Even if this is a trap, that would mean she's a Controller. No one should have to suffer like that. If we're not saving her from death, then we're saving her from something worse. I agree with Rachel – we should do it.)

(Yes!) She crowed.

This was crazy. This was freaking insane. Sure, I understood Rachel going along with it. Fighting aliens was her favorite thing, next to buying designer jeans. Cassie was a bleeding heart, so of course she wanted to save the girl. But Jake? Calm, levelheaded Jake? He'd just agreed that we should walk into an obvious trap to save one Controller. What was wrong with him? I knew the answer, of course. Tom. We shouldn't have gone on a mission so soon after the Yeerk pool. After we failed to save Jake's brother from infestation and enslavement. It wasn't enough time to recover from that. To be honest, a year wasn't enough time to really recover from that.

(Jake.) I sent a private thought-speak message; the others didn't need to hear this. (Look, I get that you'd do anything to save Tom. And if you ever figure out how to do that, I promise I'll fight with you. But this girl isn't him, okay? You have to let this one go. This is a _trap_. We're going to _die _if we fight now, and then we'll never be able to save him. Please, Jake.)

A low growl rose in his throat. Had I gone too far? (This has nothing to do with Tom. But her life is just as valuable as anyone else's, and –)

(What about the Hork-Bajir we'd be killing? Aren't their lives kind of important, too?)

I was bumped aside before Jake could answer me; Rachel was charging forward. Of course. She hadn't heard us talking, so she'd just assumed that the silence meant I was okay with the plan. Well, it was too late for objections now.

Jake dashed off after her, Cassie right behind him. I followed, hardly aware of what I was doing. I didn't have to be – the wolf was. It had to stay with its pack in a fight. Doing anything else would be... It wouldn't do anything else. It was part of the pack first, an individual second. It was –

Tearing into Hork-Bajir flesh. I hadn't even realized that we'd covered the distance. That we'd started fighting. I... didn't matter. I had to fight for my pack. Bite, bite – stabbed! An enemy had – I was bleeding! My nose said my pack was bleeding too. The enemies would _die_! Growling, and a lunge – I had its throat! It cut me, slashed my legs, but that didn't matter. I had it, and it was going to be dead. I shook, and shook – it stopped moving. We won!

No, there was another enemy. We had to... no, another creature was killing it. Not a familiar scent... this was... did we have to hurt it? I needed to think.

No. No, no, no. It was the girl. The wolf mind faded as I forced my own mind to the was easy to forget yourself when you were in another body, but it wasn't smart. I had to keep a hold on reality, or else I might end up hurting someone. And... oh, crap, I was bleeding. The wolf had shrugged it off during the fight, but now the adrenaline was fading. I was seriously hurt.

(WHOA!) I yelped, stumbling backwards. Freaky bird-girl was swinging a branch at my head!

(Yeah, you're welcome!) Rachel snapped as she dodged the girl's blow. (No need to thank us for saving your life!)

(Look, calm down,) Cassie soothed. Her heart just wouldn't stop bleeding. (Come with us. We can explain everything –"

"I'll die before I go back to the School! I'd rather be dead than have a bunch of filthy Erasers drag me off for the whitecoats to play with!" She spat venomously, breaking the branch over Jake's head with a sickening crack. He fell over – was he knocked out? Oh my God.

(So, anyone else thinking that this might all have been _a trap_?) I was right. We'd killed the Hork-Bajir and risked our lives for nothing, and now Jake was motionless in the dirt. Rachel shot me the dirtiest look I'd ever seen a wolf give, and she growled at the girl.

(We're not... Erasers. Or whitecoats. And we're not taking you to school, okay? I promise.)

"Well, since you _promised_," she mocked, assuming a defensive position. "Hey, you willing to pinky-swear? I mean, you'd probably have to go all human again, since wolves don't have pinkies, but..."

My stomach felt like it was made of lead. _Human._ They knew.

The war was over. We were as good as dead.

Oh, God.

"Kind of surprised that they modified the original design for you guys. You were a hell of a lot tougher when you didn't go all the way wolfy, you know what I mean?" Not at all. I breathed a sigh of relief. She seemed to think that we were something with a 'design'. She didn't realize that we were just a bunch of teenagers. Thank God.

(We don't know what you're talking about,) Cassie pleaded. (We just want to help you. The Yeerks are going to come with reinforcements soon – there's no way they didn't hear the fight. Please, just come with us.)

"Yeah, a doggie crate sounds so nice right now. I'd just love to be confined and abused again – all these years of freedom have really dragging on. I mean, who wants to stretch their wings? I'd much rather be hit with cattle prods and –"

Tobias fluttered down and perched on one of the maple tree's branches – you know, one of the ones that she hadn't snapped off and used to bludgeon Jake. What was he doing? (Look, I'm a bird too.) He extended his wings, just in case she'd thought he was a cuddly little kitten or something. (I hate being trapped just as much as you do. But all that doesn't matter right now. You have to run. If you don't, you'll die. If you don't want to come with us, fine. But you have to get out of here.)

She hesitated. "They made birds?" Who were 'they', anyway?

(No idea what you're talking about.)

(He's not kidding,) I said. (Your babbling has made zero sense from the beginning.) Man, we had to start running soon. And we had to find some way to carry Jake.

"Look, stop playing. I mean – you must think I'm really stupid. I'm not going to fall for your act, okay?"

(Hey, don't worry. We don't think you're stupid. We just think you're freaking insane.)

(Marco,) Tobias warned. She'd already taken out one of us. It didn't take a genius to decide to avoid that in the future.

(Guys,) Cassie said in nervous private thought-speak. (We have to move. There's no time for this.)

(How are we going to move Jake?) Rachel asked her. Answer: we couldn't.

(The bird girl seems pretty strong,) Tobias suggested. (She could probably carry him and run at the same time.)

(Dude. How many times do I have to scream 'trap' before you listen? The Yeerks are probably tracking her. Plus she seems pretty cool with the idea of us being dead, judging by the fact that she knocked out Jake in the first place.)

(I don't trust her,) Rachel agreed.

(I don't either,) Cassie admitted. (But she's our only chance of saving Jake.)

Unfortunately, it was true.

I switched my thought-speak back to... public mode, for lack of a better term. (Hey, bird-girl.)

"Hey, weird-as-hell Eraser."

(Not nice. Really not nice. Anyway, you knocked out our friend.)

"No shit, Sherlock." Wow. Somebody needed some soap.

(Kiss your mother with that mouth? Now, my point was that he saved your life, you knocked him out, and now he's going to die if someone doesn't get him out of here.)

"And that's my problem how, exactly?"

(Because, you little ingrate, he rescued you from the evil alien slugs controlling the monsters trying to kill you, and now, thanks to you, they're going to either murder him or turn him into a slave and probe his mind for information about us so that they can find us and do the same. Then they'll conquer the whole world and infest everyone on it – including you – and destroy everything that humanity has ever worked for. That's how it's your problem!) Rachel's thought-speak was laced with venom. She'd just given the girl what she deserved. She'd probably made her really furious with us. And she'd probably just doomed Jake to die.

The girl was silent for a moment. "Never heard an Eraser talk like that. Never seen them look like actual wolves, either. Or birds," she nodded at Tobias. "I... If it turns out that you are some sort of School creation, I swear to God I will rip you limb from limb." With that, she tossed Jake over her shoulders. She made a sort of _oomph _sound, but otherwise the motion seemed effortless. Hopefully she could keep up that strength while she ran.

(Hork-Bajir!) Tobias warned. (About a dozen. And a couple of human Controllers. All armed with Dracon beams. I'd say they're about... a quarter of a mile off.)

"Where are we going?" The girl demanded.

(We can actually finish the trail faster than we can get back to where we started,) Cassie pointed out.

(You want to run for twenty miles?) Tobias asked.

"We can just hide in the woods," the girl suggested. "They'll expect us to go on the trail. If we can get deep enough into the trees, they won't be able to find us. Once we're far enough -"

(Okay, fine. Great idea. Into the woods. I agree. Now let's go!) Rachel interrupted. She started to sprint; I guess that, as much as she loved fighting, the idea of three wolves and a one-armed bird-human mix squaring off against an armed attack squad of seven-foot-tall aliens didn't appeal to her. Go figure.

We followed as quickly as we could. I was slowed by my injuries, the girl – I really needed to get her name – was slowed by Jake's weight, and Cassie was too busy worrying about Jake to focus on running. Well, at least Rachel would survive.

(Tobias, are they following us?)

(They haven't even reached the trail yet. If you keep a steady pace, you should make it.) He'd said _should. _Not _would_. You noticed little things like that when they referred to your potential death.

There were a few minutes of running and labored breathing before anyone spoke again. (So, Marco, looks like it wasn't a trap,) Rachel said, just a bit snidely.

(Yeah, things have worked out so well. Hork-Bajir just behind, Jake passed out, all of us covered in blood, the Yeerks knowing that we know about this place – and it could _still _be a trap.)

(Oh, come on. You think a Yeerk would help us with Jake?)

(Yeah, actually. If it were a trap, then they'd do their best to fake it. Plus they'd just love to take him back to our spaceship and find all the other Andalite bandits, right?) See, the Yeerks don't know that we're human. They have this idea that we're Andalite warriors who landed on Earth and decided to wage guerilla war. The longer they think that, the better.

"Spaceship? Seriously?" The girl – man, I _really _needed to find out what her name was – looked incredulous. "You're actually pushing the alien story? I'm not falling for this."

(We weren't even talking to you,) Rachel snapped.

"What is this, kindergarten? If that's how you want to play it, I wasn't talking to you either. I was talking to the wolf who said 'spaceship'." That last sentence would never be uttered in a normal person's world.

(There are aliens, and they do have spaceships. I don't care if you believe me or not.) Because you're probably one of them.

(Hey, you're part bird. You have raptor vision?) Tobias asked her suddenly.

"Almost. 20/4. Why?"

(If you look at a certain patch of sky – I'd say it's at about... 10 o'clock from you, if you understand what I'm saying – I think I can cure you of your disbelief.)

"What..." she stared at the sky for a while. I couldn't see a thing, but I was pretty sure I knew what it was. "I... it's shimmery. And big. Bigger than a car, even. But... what is it?"

(A spaceship.) Tobias replied.

"Their spaceships are invisible?" She asked, skeptical. "They can do that?"

(Yep. They can do that. They can also make guns that burn off limbs. Plus they have this really neat ability to crawl into your ear, wrap their slimy, disgusting bodies around your brain, and control your every move.) I answered for Tobias. She looked surprised, to say the least. (Yeah. We've got some stuff to talk about. Except...) I trailed off.

"Except what?"

(We're sort of going to have to chain you up in a shed for three days to make sure you're not an alien,) I confessed.

"What the hell – are you kidding me?" She stared, stopping dead in her tracks. "This some sort of joke?"

(Well... not really,) Cassie confessed.

There was no response.

(Guys,) Tobias cut in, (you still need to be running.)

(We can talk later,) Cassie suggested.

"Yeah. Looking forward to that," she quipped. "'Hey, aliens are taking over the world. Therefore, we need to put you in a shed.' Seriously, what the hell?"

(It'll all make sense,) I promised. (Well, kind of.)

* * *

We'd run far enough for the Yeerks to give up the search. Jake had woken up soon after we stopped by a thick cluster of bushes; it would provide plenty of cover from prying eyes as we changed. We took turns demorphing and remorphing into birds, with two of us morphing in the bushes while Tobias and the other two of us kept an eye on the girl and kept her from investigating. When we were done, we perched in the surrounding trees.

(So, it's been bothering me to refer to you as 'the girl',) I said. (What's your name?)

"Robin." Wow. Seriously? Very creative mother, there. It didn't even make sense – her wings looked more like an oriole's.

(Oh, that's nice. I'm –) Cassie broke off. We couldn't give out our names. Especially not to someone who might have a Yeerk in their head.

"Blank. Got it."

(Sorry. We can't tell you who we are. Not until three days have passed.) Jake was firm.

"What's up with that, anyway? And what makes you think I'm going to be a prisoner for three days?"

(Yeerks – those are the bad aliens – need to leave their host every three days to feed. If they're stuck in their host for more than three days, they die. Slowly.) He paused for a moment, as though he were weighing a huge decision. (You know how we change into different animals?)

"Well, yeah. I mean, you went into the bushes wolves, then came out birds. I'd have to be pretty thick not to know."

(We heal ourselves when we change. That's part of the technology. You... if you morphed, you'd probably get your arm back.) Except she wouldn't morph. Because she sure wasn't joining us. Jake had better not... (If we watched you for three days, and you turned out not to be a Controller – someone with a Yeerk in their head – and if you promised to fight with us... we could give you that power.)

(Jake. You're freaking insane. We just met her.)

(Come on, Marco,) Rachel said. (We've got a bird and four... Andalites... fighting off a full-scale invasion of Earth. Adding a mutant's not going to hurt our chances.)

(I've got to agree with Rachel,) Tobias chimed in.

(I... I don't know.) Cassie sounded uncertain. (I mean... whatever everyone else decides is fine with me.)

(So, what do you think?) Jake asked her.

She considered for what seemed like an eternity. "I'm in," she finally said.

**AN: Well, this update only took about forever. XP Seriously, I'm so, so sorry about the incredibly long wait. I didn't even realize how long I'd neglected this story. Next time I'm that lazy, someone send me a message, okay? I forget this sort of thing too often.**

**I think this chapter isn't quite as funny as the others, but it's usually pretty hard to make a near-fatal fight with evil parasites and the subsequent flight funny – unless, of course, you're writing a parody. Sorry about that. Hopefully you enjoyed it anyway. =)**

**& of course: thanks to all of my reviewers/subscribers so far. I love getting those e-mails saying that someone's been nice enough to leave a review or add this story to their story alert/favorite list. Really, they make my day. So thank you very much. ^^**


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